Self-Sufficiency in Style
Buying your smallholding - Part Five
Viewing the land.
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Self-Sufficiency in Style Buying your smallholding - Part Five Viewing the land. |
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Use any good weather well. |
Having made all your
investigations prior to inspecting the actual property, the big day has
arrived, you have an appointment to view. If the weather is good, concentrate first on the paddocks, gardens, orchards and outbuildings. |
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objective should be to walk every inch of the boundaries, assessing the
condition of fences, hedges, ditches and gates. The type of fencing needs consideration. Which animals is it designed to control? The condition of the land is also important. Is it clay or sand, or something in-between? Is it in good heart or worn out? Is it clean or weed ridden? Has it been sprayed or fertilised? Is it all flat? Even a gentle slope will aid drainage. |
You don't need a steep slope for drainage. Mountains can be very difficult for smallholders. Impoverished and stony soils. Try putting a gatepost in stony soil. |
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That fence matters. |
Fencing,
hedging, ditching and draining are horrendously expensive. A good, well maintained ring fence or continuous boundary with subdivisions will mean you can start animal husbandry immediately. Immediate grazing will also help keep growth under control, whilst you get on with other projects. Water supply - the same. It costs money to take water to each enclosure. |
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Do not underestimate the value of well serviced meadows and animal enclosures. It took us more than five years to get things completed, even with outside help. |
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Some of the smaller paddocks will have alternative uses. For example,
potatoes and pigs in rotation. Others will be shared between fruit trees and poultry. Again water supply and drainage may be very important. On wet land it is necessary to drain orchards. Conversely, it may be possible to install your own borehole. |
You may intend to drink you own home brew, but you still need water. |
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Polytunnels need cleaning -
this is part completed. |
Some areas will need
protection from animals. Tunnels and pigs don't mix.
The poultry will also try to get inside tunnels, walled garden and greenhouses. Again fences, water supply and gates will be important. The importance of maintaining fertility in these areas is obvious. |
| Check for ponds, the source
of the water and how it gets away. Ask about the levels, winter and summer. Look for large trees. Check which meadows have midday shade and check the species. See how many there are. Enough to supply the house with fuel? Will the timber need seasoning? (Ash does not!) |
The trees may well be your fuel supply. In our case, we can produce timber with a value in excess of 1000 Pounds per annum. Enough to heat the house. |
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Take notes. |
As you can see, you have a great deal to ask and inspect. Take your time and
take notes. There is no need to either denigrate or praise. Your visit is not part of a negotiation process. If you put the vendor under pressure, the whole business will become tense and less informative. Relax. Negotiation will be part of a later article. |
| It would be a good idea to
have a list of animals, that are not kept on the property and to ask the
vendor what he thinks of the suitability of the land for these species. For Hangman's Cottage, the list would be horses, goats, geese (all of which we have kept elsewhere in the past), turkeys and bees. |
We have no fencing that will restrain bees! |
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As you can see, there is a lot more to inspecting a smallholding than meets the eye. |
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You may return to
Buying
your smallholding - Part One -
Don't complicate things! In future articles, we will tell you why you cannot avoid the "crunch" moment - and why it should come sooner rather than later. In the meantime, if you are so inclined, you can return to FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS which deals specifically with Hangman's Cottage or perhaps UNDERSTANDING ESTATE AGENTS will offer you some help for any sale or purchase |
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...eyeing up the possibilities - based on Hangman's Cottage, just to the south of Misery Corner. |
